Forðæm he monncynnes Wherefore he of mankind mæst gestriende converted the most rodra wearde: to the Ruler of heaven: Romwara betest, he of Romans the best, monna môdwelegost, of men the most mind-rich, mærðum gefrægost. and widest admired. Siððan min on Englisc At length into English Ælfred kyning Alfred the king awende worda gehwelc, every word of me wended, and me his writerum and me to his writers sende suð and norð; south and north he did send; heht him swelcra ma more ordered of such brengan bi ðære bisene, by the copy to bring, ðæt he his biscepum that he to his bishops sendan meahte: might be able to send: forðæm hi his sume ðorften, for some of them needed it, ða ðe Lædenspræce such as of Latin læste cûðon. very little did know. In the last six lines of this little poem a new attitude is taken up; the book itself becomes the speaker, and sets forth how ÆLFRED was the translator, how he ordered (HEHT) more copies of his translation to be made, and for what purpose. In mentioning purpose, the prologue communicates something beyond the Legend, which leaves the purpose and signification of the design shrouded in symbolism. But for the rest, if we analyze these six lines, we shall find the heart and core of them to be essentially identical with the Legend on the Jewel— AELFRED MEC HEHT GEWYRCAN [4] ‘Saxonici ductus duas tantum literas habet, C et G.’ _Thesaurus_, vol. i, p. 142. [5] This is briefly explained in my _English Philology_, § 270. [6] Chapter x. CHAPTER III EARLY SPECULATIONS ABOUT ITS DESIGN AND MANNER OF USE The finding of the Alfred Jewel chanced upon a remarkable time in the intellectual life of the English nation. It was the time of Dryden, Defoe, Swift, Christopher Wren, Bentley, Lord Somers, Sir Isaac Newton, Addison. In literature the coming man was Alexander Pope.